I'm walking to my first period when I feel a presence to my left. Lauren's long black hair brushes against my arms she's that close to me. I give her a strange look and she sighs. "I'm probably the last person you want to talk to right now," she says, looking straight ahead. Her winged eyeliner looks sharp enough to kill. "Believe it or not, you aren't the last person," I admit. Xavier and Kay are the last people. "What do you want?" Lauren sweeps her hair out of her face. "I need your advice." "My advice?" What can she possibly want advice on? "Yeah, about Jacob." Oh. Before I can respond, she speaks up. "You're the perfect yet worst person to talk to about this. I just don't know what to do about him. Ever since his parents split up, he's been like a hermit. I can't get him to go out anywhere with me. He's not the same person." Jacob is usually a social butterfly. Always down to go to any party or whatever school function that will allow him a chance to go drink with his friends. I've noticed in class that he isn't as talkative, but I didn't think he was like that outside of class. She's telling me everything for a reason and that either means that she wants to help him, or she wants to leave him and I hope for his sake it's the first option. "Have you talked to him about it?" I ask her. It feel a little strange talking about my ex to his new girlfriend, but it doesn't hurt and I'm glad it doesn't. She nods. "He always brushes it off. He just tells me he's tired." "What exactly are you asking me then?" Is she asking me to talk to him? Or give her advice on how to deal with him? "Was he ever like this with you?" she tilts her head. This is weird, so I take a deep breath. "Not really. Then again, his parents were still together and he didn't have to get a job." "I don't know what to do. Part of me wants to leave him because he's different now, but the other part feels...guilty I guess?" she says, looking at me. "I don't want to leave him when he's feeling down or whatever." "Honestly, if you're not happy then leave. Maybe talk to him first though." "Can you talk to him? I can't get through to him. I know this might be weird..." she trails off. "Well, really fucking weird, but you'd be helping me a lot. Even though I did technically steal him from you." I haven't had a real conversation with Lauren since the day I found out Jacob had cheated on me. Maybe I shouldn't open old wounds by doing this. Or maybe not. "Yeah, I'll talk to him." She quickly gives me her number before both of us have to go to class and this only adds another thing on my plate. Involving myself in Jacob's relationship with Lauren might backfire somehow, and I mentally hit myself for not thinking it through. When lunch comes around, Dylan sits with the guys and Casey and I get our own table. Lauren texts me and asks if I've talked to him yet. As I'm texting her back, Casey takes a peek at my phone and I tilt it so she can see. "Does that contact say 'Lauren,' or am I stupid?" she asks. I sigh. "She wants me to talk to Jacob for her. Apparently there's trouble in paradise." "And she wants you to help her?" she scrunches her nose as she asks. "I'm going to talk to him later in class so I can be done with this. I don't want to get stuck in the middle. Plus, it'll keep me distracted from the fact that I can't see Dylan." I know Casey blames herself for the trouble with Xavier, so I instantly regret saying that last part out loud. "We'll work it out." She rests her chin on her hand as she glances over at Carlos. "He doesn't even want to talk to me." Carlos has the tough guy exterior going on, but he's clearly scared of Xavier if he doesn't even want to fight. "You guys aren't even trying?" I ask her. She shakes her head. "He said he doesn't want to risk it." I haven't told her that Dylan and I are risking it. Maybe I need to keep our relationship a secret from her. The less everyone knows, the better. "What about you and Dylan?" I have to lie. "We're done too. He's all Kay's." "She's such a bitch," she frowns. "Always has been." She gives me a weird look. "What did you do to your face by the way? Don't tell me you are trying to shave your mustache. I told you not try it like that." I don't want to lie to her about my face too, but if she finds out Kay did this to me she'll draw blood. "It's a long story," I say instead. "And I didn't try to shave my mustache." "Okay," she drawls out. The rest of lunch is uneventful. Lauren is impatient and needs me to talk to Jacob when she snaps her fingers. I walk into English and I'm still explaining to her how I won't see him until fourth period. Dylan strolls in as I'm concentrated on my phone. He sits down, but I hear his voice in my ear. "The love of your life just walk in, so you can pay attention to me now." I roll my eyes and send my message to Lauren. I face Dylan and say, "Someone is needy today." The way he calls himself the love of my life doesn't feel weird and I'm surprised by how comfortable it sounds. It instantly puts me in a better mood. He chuckles. "You'd think I wouldn't be now that I have two girlfriends." Being reminded that Kay is still around breaks my good mood, even though he's joking. I try to brush it off. "I don't remember you officially asking me to be your girlfriend." "You're right," he taps his chin. "Might have to do something about that." Mrs. Beattie starts talking before I can respond. He winks at me before I turn around to face the front. After class Dylan walks me to Journalism, kisses me swiftly on the cheek, then heads to his fourth period. I wonder if he really is taking everything seriously. His nonchalant flirting and kisses make me nervous that someone might know Xavier and tell him what they've seen of us. I shake those thoughts out as I sit with Vicky and Will, anxiously waiting for Jacob to get to class. He walks in before the bell rang and plops down next to me. After Mrs. Thomas gives us a rundown of what we need to finish, my group turns to our computers. I glance at Jacob who is starting to put his earbuds in. "Hey," I nudge him. "How are you?" He looks suspicious, but smirks. "Are you trying to come onto me? Because we've already tried this." "What? No," I shake my head. "I'm just wondering how you are." "I'm fine." "How's your mom? What about your job? And Lauren?"